November 2012

Not unusually, an already confusing situation in Tibet just
got worse. Twenty-seven Tibetans have self-immolated in protest against Chinese
this month alone, according to Human
Rights Watch. That's almost one a day. Against this chaotic backdrop, Chinese
authorities have issued an arrest order for a missing monk who helped film a
2008 documentary about life in Tibet, according to his film company, Filming
for Tibet.

CPJ supporters will know that we just honored self-taught Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen with an International Press Freedom Award, recognizing his courage documenting life under Chinese rule with full knowledge that he would face severe repercussions (he is serving a six-year jail term--you can join our petition for his release here). So we've been following with concern the latest reports that his assistant on that project, the monk Jigme Gyatso, has been missing, reportedly detained, since September.

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Bogotá, November 30, 2012--Top Colombian police
officials must conduct an intensive investigation into the actions of local
police during their arrest of freelance journalist Guillermo Quiroz Delgado,
who died Tuesday night, seven days after he was hospitalized for injuries suffered
while in custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The Syrian Internet, like the country, appears to have been
collapsing into a patchwork of unconnected systems for some time. I spent time talking to Syrians tech activists this week in Tunisia before Thursday's shutdown, and their reports from the front painted a picture of two different networks.

The nearly 900 distinguished guests at the event also
pledged support for CPJ's Campaign Against Impunity during a special appeal
that raised more than $100,000. The John
S. and James L. Knight Foundation has generously pledged to match two-to-one
$100,000 of the funds.

The event, held at New York's Waldorf-Astoria, was hosted by
CPJ board member and PBS senior correspondent Gwen Ifill. The
ceremony paid tribute to the reporting
of Mauri König
(Gazeto do Pozo, Brazil), Mae Azango, (New
Narratives and FrontPage Africa, Liberia) as well as jailed journalists Dhondup
Wangchen (Filming for Tibet, imprisoned in China) and Azimjon
Askarov (Ferghana News, Kyrgyzstan), who were awarded in absentia. Alan Rusbridger,
editor of the Guardian, was awarded the Burton Benjamin Award for his lifetime
commitment to press freedom.

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The debut of the HD
version of GrupoClarín's cable news station TN could not have come at a worse time
for the Argentine media conglomerate. Conspicuously missing from Monday's premiere was coverage of a
new criminal complaint in which Clarín's lawyers accused the government of
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of inciting violence against the media
group. In what the company now acknowledges was a misstep, the complaint named
six pro-government journalists.

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New York, November 29, 2012--The Committee to Protect
Journalists is deeply concerned by recommendations to adopt government
regulation of the press resulting from the United Kingdom's Leveson inquiry
report issued today.

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New
York, November 28, 2012--The politicized prosecution of dozens of independent
news outlets in Kazakhstan is at odds with the country's commitment to press
freedom and deeply stains its recent election to the U.N.
Human Rights Council, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ
calls on Kazakh authorities to dismiss the case and allow the outlets to
operate freely.

New
York, November 27, 2012--Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should
investigate threats against at least four journalists in the eastern city of
Bukavu and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect
Journalists said today.

Armed agents from the National Security
Agency in N'Djamena, the capital, beat two reporters on November 16, 2012, and
detained them in handcuffs on the premises of a private hospital, according to
local journalists.

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New York, November 26, 2012--The Committee to Protect
Journalists today condemned the murder of Brazilian journalist Eduardo Carvalho
in Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul state, which borders
Paraguay and Bolivia. Carvalho was the editor and owner of news website Última Hora News, which frequently
denounced local corruption, according to news
reports.

Nairobi, November
26, 2012--Somali authorities must immediately release Ibrahim Mohamed
Adan, a correspondent for the Somali service of the BBC, who has been held for
nearly a week in Mogadishu without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists
said today.

Three years ago, on November 23, 2009, 30 journalists and two
media workers were brutally
killed in the southern Philippine city of Maguindanao while travelling in a
convoy with the family and supporters of a local politician. To this day, not a
single suspect has been convicted, though local authorities have identified
close to 200. The botched trial
has been stalled with procedural hurdles. Victims' families have been
threatened and key witnesses have been slain.

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The battle for a free press sometimes feels like a war
between indignation and intimidation. Journalists learn of abuses of power,
crime, or corruption, and--indignant--they speak out. In response, the
perpetrators of those abuses--be they government officials or criminals--try to
intimidate the journalists into silence with threats, lawsuits, jail, or even
murder. Last night, the Committee to Protect Journalists paid
tribute to a handful of journalists for whom indignation is a driving
force, no matter the scale of intimidation.

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New York, November 20, 2012--Two Israeli airstrikes killed three
journalists in the Gaza Strip today, according to news reports. The fatal
attacks followed a series of Israeli strikes earlier in the week that injured
at least nine journalists and damaged news outlets.

New York, November 19, 2012--Israeli authorities must immediately halt
airstrikes targeting news media offices in the Gaza Strip, the Committee to
Protect Journalists said today following a series of strikes that injured at
least nine journalists and damaged several offices.

New
York, November 19, 2012--Pakistani authorities must immediately investigate the
murder of a journalist who was shot to death in Baluchistan on Sunday, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Rehmatullah Abid was the second
Dunya News TV journalist to be killed this year.

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More reporters are jailed in Turkey than in any other
country in the world. According to CPJ's recent survey, at least 61 are imprisoned
directly for their work, representing the second biggest media
crackdown in the 27 years we have been documenting such records. (Only Turkey
itself has rivaled the extent of this crackdown, when it jailed 78
journalists in 1996.) In the country hailed as the model moderate Islamic
republic, how is this possible?

Haider Ali, an eyewitness
to the 2011 murder of Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar, was gunned down on Sunday, two days before he was set to testify in the trial of five
suspects. The murder sent shockwaves across Pakistan--one of the deadliest
countries in the world for
journalists and one of the worst in bringing the killers to justice. According
to the prosecutor in the case, Ali had identified several suspects as being involved
in Babar's murder in a recent statement before a judicial magistrate. His killing
was the latest in a series of murders that have targeted people linked to the Babar
investigation. Five others--including eyewitnesses, police officers, an informant,
and a family member of an investigator--have also been murdered.

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Lagos, Nigeria, November 16, 2012--The
Committee to Protect Journalists today said it holds authorities in the Gambia
responsible for the safety of a journalist who has received death threats
following critical coverage of the government.

Abubacarr Saidykhan, a freelancer who contributes to several news websites, told CPJ that four unknown people on Tuesday threatened him at his Ebo Town residence in Kanifing Municipality, some seven miles (11 kilometers) from the capital Banjul. Saidykhan said he was near his compound gate with his brother when the men drove up in an unmarked vehicle with tinted windows and threatened to kill him next time they see him. One of the men called him "a very stubborn journalist" before they drove off.

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Like many China watchers, we at CPJ have been struggling to
interpret obscure floor
markings and tie
colors on display in Beijing as new Communist Party leaders were appointed
in a rare leadership hand-off today. The names of the top seven are no longer
in doubt. But the real question everyone's asking is: What does it mean (for
press freedom)?

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Mexico
City, November 15, 2012--A freelance journalist and his companion were shot to
death Wednesday in the central Mexican state of Puebla shortly after the
reporter had gathered information on a large-scale gasoline theft and then witnessed
a stand-off between soldiers and gunmen, according to news
reports and CPJ interviews.

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New York, November 15, 2012--Yemeni authorities must
immediately investigate separate attacks on the homes of two journalists in the
southern province of Daleh, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Lagos, Nigeria, November 15, 2012--The Committee to
Protect Journalists condemns an attack on a Nigerian journalist on Saturday and
calls on authorities to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Three unidentified men attacked Abubakar Sadiq Isah, a reporter for the Daily Trust, outside the town hall in Kwali, a local government area in Abuja, the capital, Isah told CPJ. The journalist said he was covering a public hearing when men began to beat him on his face, chest, and back. Isah said the attack occurred in front of police, who finally intervened and took him to the police station. He said his attackers were not arrested and that he filed a complaint with Umar Ozigi, the police chief. He reported no serious injuries from the attack.

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Nairobi, November
15, 2012--An appellate court in Rwanda should overturn the prison
sentence handed to the editor of a private weekly on Wednesday, the Committee
to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also urges authorities to release
Stanley Gatera, editor of the Kinyarwandan-language paper Umusingi, pending his planned appeal.

The Gasabo
Intermediate Court in the capital, Kigali, sentenced Gatera, 22, to a one-year
jail term and fines of 30,000 Rwandan francs (US$50) for inciting divisionism
and gender discrimination in an opinion column he published in Umusingi
in June, according to local journalists and news
reports. The state prosecutor said in court that the article broke the
country's laws about referring to ethnic identities, local journalists told
CPJ. The Rwandan penal code includes crimes that carry prison terms for
individuals who speak too provocatively about ethnicity, news
reports said.

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New York, November 14, 2012--A Ukrainian journalist who was
kidnapped in Syria in mid-October appeared in a short video last week pleading
for her embassy to meet the demands of her captors, according to news reports. At
least two other international journalists are believed to be held captive in
Syria and the whereabouts of a third are unknown, according to CPJ research.

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Lagos, Nigeria, November 14, 2012--The Committee to
Protect Journalists calls on Chadian authorities to investigate reports of official
intimidation of journalists working for a private community radio station in
the southern town of Doba.

Alnodji
Mbairaba Jean-paul, the editor-in-chief of La Voix du Paysan, told CPJ
that he and two other journalists had been intimidated and threatened by Lamlengar
Ngasebey, the town's mayor, and members of his family. La Voix du Paysan had broadcast on September 20, 21, 28 a series of news
reports in which local citizens accused Ngasebey of
abuse of power, mismanagement, and hiring practices that favored attractive
women, the journalists said.

Dear President Obama: We are pleased that you will begin your second term as U.S. president with a trip to Southeast Asia. As you visit Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand from November 17 through 20 while attending the 21st Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit and related meetings in Phnom Penh, we hope that your commitment to human rights and the fundamental right to free expression remains an important aspect of your agenda.

Lawyers
for imprisoned investigative reporter Azimjon Askarov, who is serving a life term in Kyrgyzstan on charges
widely seen as politically motivated, filed an appeal today with the U.N. Human
Rights Committee that seeks his release.

When
a nation's most outspoken journalists are 11-year-olds, is it a good sign for the
future? On the one hand, they might grow up to ask probing questions. On the
other hand, they might end up following the path taken by their older peers and
stick to scripted exchanges.

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New York, November 9, 2012--Cuban authorities charged journalist Yaremis Flores with anti-state crimes on Wednesday in connection with news articles critical of the government, an arrest that sparked two waves of protests and detentions outside a Havana police station. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities to drop the charges against Flores immediately.

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New York, November 9, 2012--Iranian authorities must
immediately explain the sudden death of imprisoned blogger Sattar Beheshti, who
had previously complained about severe mistreatment in custody, the Committee
to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also demands that the government launch
a full investigation into the suspicious death and to immediately halt its
intense harassment of the victim's family.

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New York, November 9, 2012--An Indian television journalist
who documented a large-scale attack on young women and reported the episode to
police in Karnataka state has been charged with participating in the assault,
according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists considers the
arrest to be retaliatory and calls on authorities to drop the criminal charges and
release the reporter immediately.

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New York, November 8, 2012--The Committee to Protect
Journalists today called on Cameroonian officials to drop criminal charges
against a journalist arrested last month in the southwestern town
of Buea for covering a secessionist gathering. The journalist is free on bail
but faces a fine and up to six months in jail.

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On September 30, 2012, Yves Phono Kepmi, a
journalist with Radio Terre Nouvelle, was beaten by police officers in Chad's
southwestern Mayo-Kebbi Est region for asking questions about a civil
disturbance he was reporting on, according to local journalists.

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Mexico City, November 8, 2012--Mexican authorities must thoroughly
investigate the disappearance of journalist Adela Jazmín Alcaraz López, who was
last seen nearly two weeks ago, the Committee to Protect journalists said
today.

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New York, November 8, 2012--Authorities in the Philippines must immediately investigate the shooting death of radio journalist Julius Cauzo and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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New York, November 6, 2012--The Committee to Protect
Journalists is saddened by the deaths of four Peruvian journalists who perished
Monday in a car accident in the central
highlands Junín region while on assignment, according to news
reports.

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New York, November 6, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists has created this petition, calling on Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev to release unjustly imprisoned journalist Azimjon Askarov without delay.

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Security forces arrived at the offices of Radio Télévision Autonome du Sud Kasaï (RTAS), in the south
central town of Miabi, on August 15, 2012, and forced the station off the air, according
to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED). The agents also confiscated the station's
transmitter, JED said.

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New
York, November 5, 2012--A critical Sudanese freelance journalist was found on
the side of a road in Khartoum on Friday after being reported missing on
October 29, according to news reports. Somaya Ibrahim Ismail Hundosa had been
tortured and her head shaved while she was held captive, the reports said.

Hundosa was found in a remote area of the capital, news reports said. Her family said that she had been subjected to "physical torture and beating with whips" and that she had been told her head was shaved because "it looked like the hair of Arabs while she belonged to the slaves in Darfur," according to the pro-democracy group Grifina (We Are Fed Up). The journalist is now recovering at home with her family.

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New York, November 5, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists has created a petition that calls on Chinese President Hu Jintao to immediately release unjustly imprisoned Tibetan journalist Dhondup Wangchen.

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Veracruz is a beautiful, long, thin state on the Gulf coast
of Mexico where many journalists are terrified not only of the rampant
organized crime groups that kill and control, but also of the state government.
Fear that state officials will order them murdered for what they investigate or
write has forced about a dozen journalists to flee the state, claiming that
fear also puts a clamp on coverage for those who remain. Many journalists still
working in the state tell CPJ they agree.

Approximately 30 journalists are targeted and murdered every
year, and on average, in only three of these crimes are the killers ever brought
to justice. Other attacks on
freedom of expression occur daily: bloggers are threatened, photographers
beaten, writers kidnapped. And in those instances, justice is even more rare.
Today, the Committee to Protect Journalists joins freedom of expression
advocates worldwide in a 23-day campaign
to dismantle one case at a time a culture of impunity
that allows perpetrators to gag journalists, bloggers, photographers and
writers, while keeping the rest of us uninformed.

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New
York, November 1, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday's
decision by authorities in Guinea-Bissau to expel Portuguese journalist
Fernando Teixeira Gomes from the country in connection with his critical
coverage of the transitional government.

At least three journalists working in the restive,
mineral-rich province of North Kivu have fled into hiding in August and September 2012 after saying they
were threatened in reprisal for their reporting, CPJ has learned.

The Higher Council for Broadcasting and Communication, or CSAC,
the DRC's state-run media regulatory agency,
announced in August 2012 that it would indefinitely ban broadcasters from airing talk shows and call-in
programs about the ongoing conflict between the government and rebels in
the eastern provinces of the country, according
to news reports.

Congolese Communications Minister Lambert Mende banned private
daily Le Journal indefinitely on June
29, 2012, in connection with an editorial that he said incited racism and tribalism, local
press freedom group OLPA reported.

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Four armed men abducted Franck Fwamba, editor of the
monthly magazine Mining News, and
forced him into an unmarked car at around 6 p.m. on June 6, 2012, in the southern city
of Lubumbashi, according to local journalists and the press freedom group
Journaliste en Danger (JED).